By IANS
Kabul/New Delhi : At least two Indians were killed Thursday in a suicide bomb attack on a convoy of the Border Roads Organization in south-eastern Afghanistan.
According to reports from Kabul, 11 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Khasrudh district in Nimroz province, targeting a convoy of Indian workers who are constructing the Zaranj-Delaram road leading to the Iranian border. This is reportedly the first suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan this year.
The Indian government, while strongly condemning the attack, has said that it will continue to work in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The government is rushing a security team to Afghanistan to review the security of Indian personnel working in reconstruction projects sponsored by the Indian government.
In Delhi, the Indian ministry of external affairs reported that at least two Indian security personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have been killed, and there were fatalities among the accompanying Afghan security men too.
The external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said the Indian envoy in Kabul has been in touch with Indian personnel and was making efforts to airlift the injured to better medical treatment.
“We are contacting the families of the deceased and wounded. Compensation and insurance for the victims will be disbursed immediately,” he said.
Sarna said that India would work with the Afghan government to strengthen security at project sites and other locations where Indian nationals were working. “A team to review security arrangements and identify additional measures is visiting Afghanistan immediately,” he said.
“The government of India strongly condemns this act of terrorism aimed against its aid and humanitarian programme in Afghanistan and reiterates its determination to continue to work for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan and the well-being of Afghan people,” he added.